New Jersey has taken a back seat to the far more competitive Virginia contest of the two governor races on Tuesday's ballot. The Garden State is bluer than the Old Dominion — having gone for President Biden by nearly 16 points compared to the 10 point margin in Virginia. Democrats in New Jersey also outnumber Republicans by more than 1 million voters, and Democrats outnumber unaffiliated voters too.
And while Virginia has typically been famous for electing a governor of a different party the year after a White House election — save for Democrat Terry McAuliffe's win in 2013 and a feat he's trying to accomplish again — due to rules of only one consecutive term the state always has an open seat. New Jersey has its idiosyncrasies, and they're ones that if Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy prevails — as expected — would cement his own place in electoral history. A Democratic governor hasn't been re-elected in New Jersey since 1977. And dating back to the first Bush administration, every time there's been a new president in the White
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